Review Corner

Steve Martin is the great renaissance man of our time. I've enjoyed his stand-up comedy, attended a play he’d written ("Picasso at the Lapn Agile"), seen about all of his movies that created their own genre ("My Blue Heaven" is my personal favorite) and have read a few of his books. I really enjoyed the novella "Shopgirl" but had forgotten most of the story. I was happy to see the movie on DVD at my local Redbox.

I was happier to see that Martin had written the screenplay for his own book, and that he was starring in it. The movie is an American art film. There are no subtitles but "Shopgirl" has photographic quality cinematography. You just enjoy looking at the scenes and the color. It moves at an art film pace but it doesn't ever seem slow. I'd have to know somebody well to give it an all-out recommendation, but if you like that stuff, check this out. jk gives it four stars.

By sheer accident, movie night had a theme. The other film was also visually appealing.

"Casanova" surprised me at first. The scenery and costumes are stunning. The dialogue and humor is, well, silly. The look could have supported a very serious plot, but instead relied on jape and ribald comedy. The juxtaposition caught me off guard at first but I ended up digging it. Well worth a rent, jk gives it three-and-a-half stars, most of those for visual elegance.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I watch movies every Friday under the influence of MS drugs, side effects, and medication to mitigate the side effects. Nobody should actually take my film opinions too seriously…

Posted by jk at April 29, 2006 12:31 PM